Tappet plastic spacer thingy

mrx · Post by **mrx** » Sun May 01, 2005 2:40 pm

OK. Was talking with Nihon Parts in QLD about tappets, as they claim to be FTO secialists. I was told that on GPX's, it is not the whole lifter that needs replacing, just the plastic bit that, surprise surprise, over time will wear out and break. This mean that the valve will no longer hold it's gap and cause the really loud tapping (as opposed to the minor rattling that you can get which means they just need re-setting).

See pics for details.

You can see on the bottom one the red coloured spacer thing is missing. Nihon sell these for $15 each (+GST). I have 4 coming down and will be here on Monday.

However, how do you replace it? I assume you would have to take the cam's out to do it. Has anyone done this before? Anything I should be aware of? I might just give Nihon a call on monday to talk about it.

Will let you know how it goes.

Post by **smorison** » Sun May 01, 2005 8:54 pm

i know tanya's engine is in bits waiting for some of these from Mits japan...

not sure how to replace them... but if you give the guys a call who did your major service i'm sure they'll let you know...

seeing as your in SA now its a bit far to travel and all

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Sun May 01, 2005 9:41 pm

The only person i know that had pull them apart is Lee from SL Motorsports, as he had pull my engine completely apart, so he might able to give you some tip.

But keep in mind they are a mechanical place, so if you going to call him, tell him your from QLD, as after all, he is telling you what he does for living

akuma3 · Post by **akuma3** » Mon May 02, 2005 11:54 pm

well with all the topics gone with tappets problem, i seriously have no idea about anything them but i know i need to fix mine ...

group buys tappets topic on the other section seems interesting but hell no if i don't know what i need to do or who can replace it for me, someone give me a brief idea what i can do with my manuel gpx? or even a place where they know what to do around sydney?

mxysxy · Post by **mxysxy** » Tue May 03, 2005 10:24 am

where does that broken plastic parts go in the engine?

Post by **smorison** » Tue May 03, 2005 10:54 am

lots of places... best place for them to go is the sump... worst case they do the "monster mash" with pistons and other really useful places...

mrx · Post by **mrx** » Tue May 03, 2005 10:04 pm

akuma3 wrote:well with all the topics gone with tappets problem, i seriously have no idea about anything them but i know i need to fix mine ...

group buys tappets topic on the other section seems interesting but hell no if i don't know what i need to do or who can replace it for me, someone give me a brief idea what i can do with my manuel gpx? or even a place where they know what to do around sydney?

Oh boy......well, you could
1. get them from Nihon in QLD for $16.50 (inc GST)
2. Then try and fir them yourself, or
3. Take them to a mechanic, who even though they don't know about the car would still be able to do it, but then not adjust the gap correctly, and you may have to supply an engine manual to them.
4. Or you could take them too.......ahhhhh.......can't say where. Somewhere around Castle Hill know a thing or two about these cars (but they failed to notice that these two were missing off my car

)

Post by **smorison** » Tue May 03, 2005 10:19 pm

i know tanya's broke when they tried to pull them out... literally Disintegrated... i guess it depends on the condition of the engine and whether or not they needed to pull tappets out...

from what i've been told they fail due to long service intervals... generally a historical issue from when the car was in japan... i'm just lucky that my car has survived, its done a great deal of track work and spirited driving... must be that i take care of it enough... (or too much if you ask my girlfriend

)....

mrx · Post by **mrx** » Wed May 04, 2005 8:16 pm

Well, it is all back together again and seems *touch wood* to be running fine. There is still one of the tappets that is too loose - stongly suspect that is the one that we set, but far, far better than it was.

There was one or two dramas along the way, but nothing that couldn't be overcome. And if you were a more competent mechanic, then it would really be a piece of cake, just time consuming.

Will have to do a few test runs in the next week or so before the track day to make sure that all is well. Certainly runs nicely now, and has regained a little bit of pick-up in the upper range.

Still, it could all blow up yet, but so far so good.

Luca · Post by **Luca** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:24 pm

As I was MRX's sidekick for this lovely bit of work... and I only live down the road... I'm still waiting to here the sound of an engine blowing up its cam covers in the distance.

Only kidding mate

I think it was a top job.

salacious · Post by **salacious** » Sat May 07, 2005 2:30 am

When my engine expired last summer, I found that a few of these plastic clips were broken and some yellow/brown powder was in the sump. I personally think that the plastic went down the drain hole and then onto the crankshaft and scored it. It can also mean that the metal hat could get down into the sump as well

This may be the problem that causes a lot of GPX engine to die.

Brian

mrx · Post by **mrx** » Sat May 07, 2005 9:38 am

I guess that is a chance, but given they have been broken for like 20000km's, I doubt that it is suddenly going to do damage.

I still cannot believe that Mitsu, or anyone else, would put something like that in the engine though!!! Crazy.

Luca · Post by **Luca** » Sat May 07, 2005 10:31 am

So Brian

Did you get your FTO running again?

salacious · Post by **salacious** » Sun May 08, 2005 3:40 am

Luca wrote:So Brian

Did you get your FTO running again?

I got a replacement engine which I fitted myself although my mate droppped the flywheel on my finger
Click here for the pic

mrx · Post by **mrx** » Sun May 08, 2005 9:17 am

Oops!

Luca · Post by **Luca** » Sun May 08, 2005 10:06 am

Ouch

Post by **Supplanter** » Sun May 08, 2005 11:49 am

salacious wrote:...although my mate droppped the flywheel on my finger...

I thought it was going to be a picture of the flywheel

salacious · Post by **salacious** » Tue May 10, 2005 8:24 am

Supplanter wrote:
salacious wrote:...although my mate droppped the flywheel on my finger...
I thought it was going to be a picture of the flywheel

It couldn't see any damage to the flywheel so I never took a picture of it

If you look just right of the right spark plug you can notice a small metal disc

Here is a close up of it

And here is part of the broken plastic clip that was still floating around

Only 2/3 of this I can still find

BuCkEt · Post by **BuCkEt** » Tue May 10, 2005 7:43 pm

Took me a minute to realise you were wearing a glove in that last picture.....so I thought your left finger was squished in!